


Touch Theory

by FanGirlofManyThings



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, uncovering feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24598009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanGirlofManyThings/pseuds/FanGirlofManyThings
Summary: Britta and Shirley accidentally set Annie on a path of discovery when they ask her what's going on between her and Abed.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Abed Nadir
Comments: 8
Kudos: 133





	Touch Theory

“So what’s going on with you and Abed?” Britta asked during a lull in the, frankly, awful rom-com they were watching. 

It was their monthly girls night; where the three of them got together to drink too much wine, watch terrible movies and gossip. Annie usually found these nights enjoyable, probably because she hadn’t had any female friends in high school to do these kinds of things with. 

Britta and Shirley were watching her expectantly and Annie started to squirm. “Nothing’s going on!”

“Mhmm,” Shirley said in obvious disbelief

“Come on Annie!” Britta shouted, wine always made her loud. “You can tell us. We won’t judge you. Everyone beds someone outside of society's norms at least once.”

“I’m being honest,” Annie cried. “And don’t talk about Abed like that.”

“You can’t be serious?” Britta asked, squinting over her wine glass at Annie. 

“You’re among friends here, Annie,” Shirley said sweetly. “We won’t tell anyone.”

“There’s nothing going on between us.” Annie took a sip of her wine. “We’re just friends and roommates. Why would you guys even think that there was?”

“All the touching,” Britta said without hesitation. 

“Mhmmm,” Shirley nodded in agreement. “That boy doesn’t like to be touched but he lets you put your hands all over him.”

“I do not!” Annie cried with indignation.”

“Do too,” Britta sing-songed. 

“You guys are imagining things.” She said finally, before taking another sip of wine. “There’s nothing going on between Abed and I.” 

Britta and Shirley shared a look. 

“Whatever you say dear.” 

Annie stared straight ahead, taking in nothing of the movie playing on the screen. She really didn’t think she treated Abed any differently than the rest of her friends. Was he letting her get away with more than their other friends? She had always been a tactile person, reaching out and touching others came naturally to her. But she had been harboring more than friendly feelings for the skinny, wanna-be filmmaker for some time now. Maybe those feelings were starting to leak out despite the lid she tried to keep on them. But surely Abed would have said something if she was crossing his boundaries? 

***

Annie couldn’t keep her eyes off Abed all day on Monday, and not for the usual reason. She found herself analyzing every interaction he had with other people. She had always known he didn’t enjoy physical contact but she discovered so much evidence of his distaste for it as the day went on. 

In the hallway, on their way to their first class, he turned sideways when someone passed by too close to him. He was so thin, it almost seemed unnecessary but without fail if someone got within a few inches of him, he twisted slightly to make more space. At his desk, he seemed to tuck himself as far as possible inside the confines of the desk, tucking his legs and elbows in on himself as he tried not to protrude past the invisible border of the seat. An impressive feat for someone with such long limbs. In the lunch line, he shuffled forward and backwards, seemingly trying to keep as much space as possible between himself and the other’s in line. When Jeff offered him a high five, he hesitated and she would bet her bottom dollar that she had seen him take a deep breath before touching his hand to Jeff’s. 

And now, as they sat at their table, attempting to study, Annie couldn’t help but notice that the closer Britta’s elbow got to his textbook, the further Abed tried to shift away and the more uncomfortable he looked. Britta seemed not to notice the discomfort she was causing as her head sunk further down, causing her arms to splay across more of the table then was rightfully hers. 

“Hey Britta,” Annie called. 

“Mmmm,” Britta hummed, looking at Annie without actually picking up her head.

“What did you get for question four?”

“Well the answer is obviously table and when I went to translate that into spanish I started thinking about the overuse of gendered language in the spanish language.” Britta perked up as she started her rant, pulling herself into a normal sitting position. “I mean why-”

Annie tuned her out as she started to pick up steam, she was building up to a long winded rant. She may have set Britta off, disturbing their peace, but at least Abed looked marginally more comfortable as he stacked some notebooks and textbooks in the space where Britta’s offending elbow had been. 

She caught his eye and gave him a small smile. He returned it, in that completely Abed way he smiled when he was truly happy. Britta was still ranting about inherent sexism in language but Annie was happy. So stupidly happy from one little smile

Just as Jeff engaged Britta and her argument, Troy caught her eye and jerked his head towards the door. She nodded and slowly slid her books into her backpack. It wasn’t like she wasn’t getting any studying done here, might as well go home and have some dinner.

Abed drove them home in Annie’s old crappy car, with Annie riding shotgun and Troy splayed out in the backseat. The two men quickly fell into an in depth analysis of the most recent Inspector Spacetime episode. A conversation Annie usually would have joined in on, but tonight her mind was occupied with other things. 

All day she had watched Abed shy away from or deliberately avoid contact with other people. Everyone, except Troy and herself. With the two of them he willingly accepted their touches. But even then what he allowed for each of them seemed different. Troy’s touches were always well telegraphed giving Abed plenty of time to react, high fives and arm-wide-open-hugs. Annie’s touches were much more spur of the moment, a hand on his arm during a conversation or touching his hand to get his attention. Even when Troy touched him without warning he tensed up momentarily. Sometimes she could swear he was leaning into her hand when she touched him.

Why was she so much different than his best friend?

Why did she seem to have special privileges? 

Was it possible…?

Would she even let herself consider it?

Maybe it was her own self-doubts and insecurities talking, but she found it hard to fathom the idea that Abed may like her. Sure they were friends and she’d admit, to herself, that she would like them to be more than that. But she had convinced herself that it was nothing more than a pipe dream. She had come to the, very depressing, conclusion that she would harbor these feelings for a very long time before inevitably being forced to get over them by a set of uncontrollable circumstances. 

However, now she was faced with this information, this possibility that Abed was giving her special treatment and she couldn’t keep her traitorous heart from whispering. It kept suggesting that Abed might just feel the same way and the more she thought about it the more her brain started to agree.

She had to know for sure. She needed a plan.

***

She started her day with her favorite cardigan and a plan. Without completely disrespecting his boundaries, she was going to see exactly where he had set those boundaries with her. It was the first step in her plan to figure out if Abed had feelings for her. She needed to confirm her theory that she had a different set of permissions than others.

She started small. As the three of them were getting ready to leave, she casually but deliberately let her elbow brush Abed as they put their jackets on by the door. She had to tamp down her excitement when he didn’t startle or pull away. 

As they walked to class, she walked just a smidge closer than usual so that their hands and shoulders brushed occasionally. At no point in their walk did he make an effort to put more space between them. She was so giddy, it was hard to concentrate in class.

At lunch she sat next to him, close enough that their hips were pressed together and their knees knocked when they moved. She honestly wasn’t even sure he noticed, he carried on so normally. No hint of discomfort as he chatted with Troy and Jeff. 

The three of them had a down period today, and they always told themselves they would study between classes. But as usual they had ended up sitting on the couches in the study room doing everything else. Today, Annie had chosen to sit next to Abed, with Troy on the other couch. Instead of sitting properly, she had leaned against the arm rest and stretched her legs out, until her calves lay in Abed’s lap. She had almost squealed in delight when he had nonchalantly wrapped his long fingers around one of her ankles, the pad of his thumb rubbing absent circles on her skin. 

And honestly, that hand on her ankle, a hand he had willingly put there, was the proof she had been looking for. There was no one she could think of that Abed would touch so casually, almost like he hadn’t been thinking about it. 

Now for the hard part. She was going to have to actually talk to him. Maybe he didn’t actually have feelings for her, but she still wanted to know what was so different about her. And if he did return her feelings, that would be nice to know too.

***

Annie paused the TV just as the credits started to roll cousin Abed to look at her with that little head tilt. It was just the two of them in the apartment at the moment, Troy had to work on a presentation with another group. 

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Abed, can I ask you something a little personal? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want.”

“Sure.” He still had that little head tilt. 

“Why do you let me touch you?” She had found that being straight forward with Abed was better than beating around the bush and hoping he’d figure it out. 

For a very long, bordering on uncomfortable moment, Abed just stared at her, his large brown eyes blinking, confusion scrawled across his face. He was processing her question, she’d seen him do this kind of thing before. That didn’t mean it was nerve wracking as she sat there in Troy’s usual chair, fighting the urge to squirm or run away. 

“It just feels right when you do,” Abed said slowly. “Like when Baby danced with Johnny. I like it.”

“But why me?” Annie asked. “You don’t even let Troy touch you like I do.”

“You’re different.” He shrugged. “Special. You don’t judge me. Well, neither does Troy but you understand me on a different level. You understand why sometimes I’m anxious and I can’t really explain why. Troy doesn’t really get that. That and you’re a pretty girl, that helps.”

“Abed, I think I like you,” She confessed. 

“Think?” He asked, holding up one long finger.

She smiled softly. “I know I like you. I like when we spend time together, just the two of us. I like listening to you explain movies I’ve never seen, in excruciating detail. I like playing with you in the dreamatorium. I liked that kiss during paintball last year. Hell, I like when we just sit and watch TV.”

“I think I like you too.”

“Think?” She echoed his question with a playful smile.

“I know I like you too,” He told her as he stood up. 

Gently he took her hand, pulling her to a standing position. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, as he placed her hand on his shoulder, his free hand snaking around her waist. He pressed it firmly into her lower back, pulling them flush. She could feel the heat building in her cheeks as she looked up at him. The hand not on her back, slid gently across her cheek, his fingers threading through her hair. Ever so carefully he tipped her head up and captured her lips with his. She melted into him, her hand grasping at his shirt as she tried to pull herself closer. 

As they separated she found herself breathing quickly, still leaning against him. He was supporting her weight, holding her close as he smiled down at her, a blissed out smile. She returned it with a dopey grin of her own. 

“Would you like to get dinner with me on Friday?” He asked softly. “Maybe see a movie at the Cineplex?”

“Yeah,” She breathed. “That sounds great, Abed.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
